The Essex

Outstanding vegan options served in a lovely setting - and dogs are even made very welcome in the first room!

During a recent holiday to the Isle of Wight we discovered this gem.They have a separate vegan menu which is changed regularly, with fresh seasonal ingredients and it does not contain any bog standard vegan options we are used to seeing elsewhere.The options available were truly exquisite and presented as gourmet meals.I cannot recommend the mushroom filo parcel with port sauce highly enough!There was also a lovely dish of sweet potato noodles with olives, capers and spicy sauce which was amazing and very unusual.

Every meal we had there was of an outstanding quality and even had desserts available served with vegan custard.They clearly understand vegan diets and are catering for this brilliantly.The staff were all very friendly and efficient - the whole dining experience could not have been better.

Also hugely important to us - as we were dining out on a family holiday - was that our two dogs were made very welcome.In the first homely and beautifully decorated room there is a blanket in the corner and a biscuit barrel full of doggy biscuits.To have this combined with such a high quality vegan menu really was the best find of our holiday.

The vegan menu is provided on request and we had passed by the pub many times in previous years unaware that they offered any vegan options.So I wanted to leave a review here to make others aware of what is on offer.Highly recommended.